Michigan State Spartans Shoot Just Well Enough To Win

By Andy Schmidt

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

The Big Ten Conference is going to produce some of the best college basketball games that are seen all season. It happened again on Wednesday night as the No. 12-ranked Michigan State Spartans produced a 61-50 home win against the No. 18-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Spartans trailed at the half but would rally in the second half to run away with the victory. The Spartans got away with a bad night at the free-throw line for the win and nights like that can’t happen once it gets close to the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State went just 12-for-20 at the free-throw line. Those extra points when shots aren’t contested will cost Michigan State if they keep doing that. If the Spartans could have made just four more of those shots, they would have shot 80 percent, which is what teams shoot for anyway most of the time. The thing is that Minnesota also shot just 60 percent from the free-throw line. I really hope both of these teams spend a ton of time before their next games working on their free throws.

Michigan State moved to 19-4 and 8-2 in the Big Ten while Minnesota fell to 17-6 and just 5-5 in the Big Ten. The Spartans look to be well on the way to a high seed in the Big Ten tournament while the Golden Gophers are really struggling right now. I think Michigan State will find a way to get at least a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament while Minnesota is falling all the way to a No. 9 seed the way they are going. It was Michigan State’s night in this one even with the terrible free-throw shooting.

Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.